This is a key element of doing your Thing–it’s one thing to know what it is you do brilliantly and differently to everyone else BUT it’s entirely another to go out and do it.
But you know that if you don’t do your Thing it’s going to annoy you, so I’m assuming you WANT to have the confidence to do it. And I’d love to tell you I have a secret mantra for confidence, but actually it’s very much about feeling the fear and doing it anyway (thanks for that great phrase, Susan Jeffers).
Like most things in life, when you’ve done something once, or 10 times, or 100 times, it gets easier and you get more confidence. We all feel a bit of a prawn the first time we do something (unless we’ve practised loads in private!), but get it done to get it done. NOT doing your Thing because you’re not confident it will be brilliant the first time just means you’re human! The best way I’ve found to get confident is to do it anyway and give yourself permission for it to be a bit ropey the first time (or 10 times).
The way I handle this in ‘real life’ is–when launching a new product, service or program I am not 100% confident will be perfect from the outset–I do a ‘beta’ release (too many years in software marketing taught me this). It’s also something I encourage my clients to do, too. What this does is gives a CLEAR signal that this is your ‘launch’ version–it’s not billed as perfect, it’s instead billed as beta–so you’re clearly saying "Hey, this might be a bit rough around the edges but all the content is there and please give me feedback so I can smooth out those rough parts" (or something like that!).
A Beta is a way of signalling to your market that you have what they need but it might not quite be perfect yet (this is usually reflected in the price too). It’s also possible to run a ‘test group’ or set up a ‘focus group’ (the latter is just for feedback) to help you build up your confidence. Perhaps you want to test out your Thing on existing clients before finding new ones–whatever you need to do–it’s all about giving yourself PERMISSION to not to be perfect!
The key to cracking on and being about to do your Thing is to create confidence to do it, and very often this is as simple as getting permission for the product/programme/service not to be perfect. Any great performer practices beforehand, and the same goes for your Thing. And you can still charge for this (if you want to) but the permission here for non-perfection may well be reflected in the price. As long as you are clear on what’s on offer you can be confident.
No more excuses for not doing your Thing confidently–the trick is to make your excuses in advance!
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